The principal objective of this program is to train graduate students to function effectively as geneticists, enabling them to apply the rigor of genetic methods to pertinent issues in contemporary biology and medicine. The variety of approaches taken by the training faculty ensures a broad scope of training that encompasses microbial genetics, human and clinical genetics, yeast, plant, nematode, insect, fish, and mouse genetics, aging and population genetics, and genomics and computational genetics. The predoctoral trainees supported by this program gain specific expertise from thesis research in one of these subdisciplines while gaining a broader intellectual outlook from formal coursework, first-year research rotations, and journal club. A well-established program of seminars and other forums for exchange of research findings lends further perspective and provides valuable interaction with postdoctoral fellows, whose research training is also integrated into the program. Access to medical and clinical aspects of genetics derives both from formal coursework and from association with the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Medicine. The training program draws faculty with genetic expertise from a number of departments at the University, including the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Departments of Genome Sciences, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Pathology, and Pediatrics in the School of Medicine, as well as with the Basic Sciences Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.